The dance begins

The UN Security Council has passed a unanimous resolution “condemning in the strongest terms” the “downing” of the Malaysian Airlines jet on July 17.

Even Russia voted “yes.”

But Russia’s Ambassador Vitaly Churkin went on to claim that the government of Ukraine – not the separatists – was operating an anti-aircraft battery of the very type the U.S. says brought down that plane.

“Right after the downing of the flight was the battery hastily removed from that area,” claims Churkin.

They’re not going to challenge that it was a Russian-made missile system, they’ll just try to create a reasonable doubt as to who pulled the trigger. Although as U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power observed, it’s unlikely the rest of the world will believe them, when they evidently don’t believe it themselves.

“If Russia genuinely believed that Ukraine was involved in the shootdown of Flight 17, surely President Putin would have told the separatists, many of whose leaders are from Russia, to guard the evidence at all costs.”

But then, Vladimir Putin isn’t too worried about the threat of economic sanctions. As CBS correspondent Elizabeth Palmer reports, tough sanctions are the LAST thing our European allies want.

“There’s a lot of resistance to really tough sanctions. It’s Russian oil and gas that literally keeps the lights on in large parts of Europe,” says the report.

As Jimmy Fallon might say, Thank you, Oil! For being so slippery. And for again reminding us that nothing is quite as important as you.